Amazon’s 3D Smartphone Rumors Return

Rumors about Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) plans for making a smartphone have sparked again. According to a report from Tech Crunch, the company is working on both a high-end device that will use 3D technology and facial tracking, and a low-end option that will be either very cheap or possibly free.

Amazon is keeping the plans for the devices, which are being developed at its Lab126 facility in Cupertino, California, top secret. So the report from Tech Crunch is based on previous rumors that have been swirling all year and an HN posting that appeared on Wednesday. Information from the posting matched up with details from a report published by the Wall Street Journal back in May.

The high-end device would include four cameras and facial recognition software that will track a user’s motions to create the illusion of a 3D picture. The software will ignore other faces around it while giving a 3D representation of the phone’s screen based on the user’s point of view. Tech Crunch said that Amazon is also working on an application that would allow users to take photos of an object and then be directed to an Amazon page where the object is available for purchase.